The analysis of buried tunnel valleys in the North Sea can provide information about the past configuration and dynamics of the Scandinavian and British ice sheets and the processes by which sediment and meltwater were transported at the ice-sheet base. However, little is presently known about the distribution and characteristics of tunnel valleys in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Here we use an extensive database of 3D seismic and high-resolution magnetic data to map >2200 tunnel valleys in the Norwegian and British sectors of the North Sea between 56°N and 62°N. With the exception of the deep Norwegian Channel, in which evidence for tunnel valleys is absent, the geological setting of the North Sea is interpreted to have been conducive to tunnel-valley formation and preservation because of its poorly consolidated substrate and shallow water depths. The highest density of tunnel valleys is located in the central part of the North Sea where Quaternary sediments are thickest. The extreme length of some of the tunnel valleys, which are up to 155 km long, supports theories that tunnel valleys form in stages rather than catastrophically. Detailed analysis of the orientation of tunnel valleys and their relative age relationships within four representative subareas shows that tunnel-valley orientation varies significantly across the central and northern North Sea and between different generations of valleys. This suggests that the pattern of subglacial meltwater drainage in the central and northern North Sea was different between each deglacial event in which tunnel valleys were formed.

对北海地下隧道谷的分析可以提供有关斯堪的纳维亚和英国冰原的过去构造和动态以及沉积物和融水在冰原底部的运输过程的信息。但是，目前对北海挪威海域隧道谷的分布和特征了解甚少。在这里，我们使用广泛的3D地震和高分辨率磁数据数据库来绘制北海的挪威和英国扇形介于56°N和62°N之间的> 2200个隧道谷。除了挪威海峡深处，那里没有隧道谷的证据，北海的地质环境被解释为有利于隧道-河谷的形成和保护，因为它的底物固结较差且水深较浅。隧道谷的最高密度位于北海的中部，第四纪沉积物最厚。某些隧道谷的最大长度（长达155公里）支持分阶段而非灾难性形成的理论。在四个代表性分区内，对隧道谷的方向及其相对年龄关系的详细分析表明，在北海中部和北部以及不同年代的谷之间，隧道-谷的方向变化很大。